Simplicity

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-07-19T02:15:00.002+05:30

Compulsory Voting Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
It proposes a fine of Rs 500 or two days' imprisonment or forfeiture of the ration card of the person who fails to cast his vote.
How ironic.
Comic - Just a question
:)
Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others
This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.
In Afghanistan - Pictures - Part One and Part Two
iPhone App Cupcakes
Nice
Tata Docomo pricing throws gauntlet
Introduces billing pulse of one second. Once number portability comes the space will become very competitive.
Exclusive Interview With Ajit Balakrishnan On Rediff Redesign, Search, Mobile, Ad Revenue & Its Future Plans
I have never understood Rediff's strategy when its come to its homepage design. This redesign leaves me even more confused.
Breaking News Online: How One 19-Year Old Is Shaking Up Online Media
fold - greeting cards
Nice.
Pain is my alarm clock
Eclipse fever in India village
An obscure village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar has suddenly shot into limelight as the best place in India to watch a total solar eclipse on 22 July.
Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds
Gandhi's Last Stand.
This somewhat blurred photograph had been pictured about 37 years ago, at the moment when Nathuram Godse shot the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
I doubt if it is real.
First Person: Frank Ahearn
Six years ago, I spotted a guy in his late forties in a bookstore in New Jersey. He was buying books about offshore banking and a travel guide to Costa Rica. He paid with a credit card. Afterwards, when he sat down in the bookshop cafe, I decided to talk to him. "I bet you want to buy a condo in Costa Rica and bank your money in Belize," I said. "But if you're running from someone, you'd better avoid paying for those books with your credit card." We talked for a while. Before I left, I gave him my business card. He was the first person I helped to disappear.
Since then, I've helped more than 30 people vanish - people who had problems with ex-spouses, with business partners or with criminals. Normally, it takes me between one month and three to make the necessary preparations. Depending on the case, I charge between $10,000 and $30,000, but I work free of charge for women who are being stalked.
10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter
They aren't 'stunning' but anyway...
The Festival of San Fermin, 2009 - Pictures
Savita Bhabhi's creator decides to end campaign
How to Get Rid of Black Circles Under Your Eyes
50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
TOI Online is world's No.1 newspaper website
Based on pageviews and stats from ComScore when most other ratings have decided to drop page views as a yardstick.
New World, Old Strengths
Hindustan Times newspaper has redesigned.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-07-12T02:23:00.002+05:30

2009: Most Anticipated Books
Open a Banana Like A Monkey
Apparently our way is inefficient.
Roger Federer Unbuttoned
People develop Federer obsessions the way teenagers have crushes. They can't get the guy out of their heads. The late novelist David Foster Wallace, a devotee, said of one Federer forehand against Andre Agassi that, "It was impossible. It was like something out of 'The Matrix.'"
I think that gets us close to the heart of the matter. Let me put this bluntly: Is Roger Federer part of a Matrix-like artificial reality or is he flesh and blood?
Scratch
Nice product idea. I hope they include the recipe too. I saw something similar in Namdhari's for sambhar. It could work for other dishes too.
Study: Night owls may benefit from evening strength
Speeding Up RSS
So now RSS isn't fast or 'real-time' enough. I don't get this obsession for real-time these days. Having/wanting to know everything that happens that very instant.
Find Creative Commons images with Image Search on Google
Weight loss tips for geeks
Fotoglif - One source, thousands of new photos a day, the worlds top photographers and agencies, free to view & free to use
The pics are great...the catch though is that the image embed has Google ads too. Though you get paid a percentage if they get clicked on.
Introducing the Google Chrome OS
After years of speculation its finally here.
Scientists claim sperm 'first'
Scientists in Newcastle claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory in what they say is a world first.
Vote for WordPress 2.9 Media Features
allt eller inget
This guy takes pics and then blends them to create amazing scenes.
Tipo/Cali grafia - a set on Flickr
Nice calligraphy work.
Kaminey - Songs
When I got to know the title I wondered if there would be a title song. There sure is and it is the best song in the album. And it goes without saying that the whole album is littered with Gulzar gems. That would need a whole another post. Anyway...
Fancy Fast Food
Extreme makeovers of fast food items.
President Obama's first 167 days - Pictures
Many of them are from the White House photostream on Flickr by Pete Souza, who has one of the coolest jobs in the world.
Premiere Issues
Covers of the inaugural issues of magazines.
Facebook Activism: Lots of Clicks, but Little Sticks
Facebook's Easy Virtue: 'Click-Through Activism' Broad but Fleeting.
What The Trend?
Find out what's trending on Twitter and more importantly...why.
Also What the Hashtag?! - the user-editable encyclopedia for Twitter hashtags
How To: Iron a Dress Shirt and when you have - How To: Fold a Dress Shirt
The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics
On the Nike+ sensor system.
Interactive - How the human brain works

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-07-05T00:53:00.002+05:30

Obama, a stickler for pronunciation
India's secret torture chambers
They are our own Gitmos. Where, far away from the eyes of the law, 'enemies of the state' are made to 'sing'.
Not safe for work: Did Techcrunch really kill Blognation? Time – and the courts – will tell
On the Sam Sethi lawsuit against Techcrunch.
Iran or Star Wars?
:)
Twitter followers 'can be bought'
Twitter users who lack an audience for their messages can now buy followers. Australian social media marketing company uSocial is offering a paid service that finds followers for users of the micro-blogging service.
MTV's brand new look
Federal IT Dashboard
The IT Dashboard is a new website enabling federal agencies and the general public to view details of federal information technology investments.
Fancy.
Introducing gdgt
Pirate Bay's Weird New Business Plan
The new owner of the swashbuckling Swedish peer-to-peer outfit will bundle up the collective Internet bandwidth of its users and resell it to ISPs.
Dil Bole Hadippa - Theatrical Trailer
Looks horrible.
Kaminey - Dhan Te Nan - Full Song
Like me, if you can't wait till tomorrow for the music release. Its Dhan Te Nan time :)
Worst Tech Commercial Ever, Probably - Microsoft
The Seinfeld ones seem better now.
3 apps to check username availability across all sites at once
Tell me - I forget. Provoke me - I engage. Tease me - I buy. Love me - I come back
Nice.
Spezify
Spezify is a search tool presenting results from a large number of websites in different visual ways.
Can We Blame Our Bad Behavior on Stone-Age Genes?
Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around? The fault, dear Darwin, lies not in our ancestors, but in ourselves.
Low-Cost Cures
World-class healthcare at affordable rates in rural and semi-urban areas. It's not a paradox, as this Bangalore-based start-up is showing.
India's New Retailers
Microfinance institutions are going beyond financial products to sell phones, fridges and more. Everyone gains: rural consumers, rural sellers, companies and MFIs.
Love the ChotuKool refrigerator :)
Color Inspiration: Indian Matchboxes & Film Posters
Are humans cruel to be kind?
Making sense of human spite.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-06-28T01:00:00.002+05:30

I don't know either why Anu has an image problem
The Anu Malik story by Vir Sanghvi.
Why did you leave, I thought we were having fun?
Lisa Marie Presley on Michael Jackson
Twitter Guide Book – How To, Tips and Instructions by Mashable
Govt Bans Popular Toon Porn Site Savitabhabhi.com; Mounting Concern Over Censorship
35 Examples Of Stunning Macro Photography
'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'
Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around 'as high as a kite'.
Thats some story.
Advertising designs for Container Corporation of America
See also...gallery 1 and 3.
Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?
Could it be that most of us are spending more time than we need to trying to get fit? The answer, a growing number of these sports scientists believe, may be yes.
Nilekani quits Infosys to take up government project
which is...an IT-driven programme to provide unique identification numbers to citizens of the country.
County's crime rate at 20 year low after family jailed
A county's crime rate has fallen to a 20-year low after a crimimal family was jailed, a chief constable has reported.
The Indian soap opera that's taken Brazil by storm
As I go to the embassy and open my e-mail, there are the normal clutch of commercial news letters, trade enquiries, complaints about visa or passport services, invitations for events and so on.
But these days, also something a little bit more unusual. These are queries about the significance of the bindi. 'Can a sari be stitched, or worn without a blouse?' Or 'Is Kali the name of a curry or something spicier?' and such other matters of Indian exotica. And all this in Brazil where I am the Indian ambassador, experiencing currently the strangest and strongest manifestation of India's soft power that I have ever seen in my long and varied career.
Twitter Creator On Iran: 'I Never Intended For Twitter To Be Useful'
When I heard how Iranians were using my beloved creation for their own means—such as organizing a political movement and informing the outside world of the actions of a repressive regime—I couldn't believe they'd ruined something so beautiful, simple, and absolutely pointless.
:)
Oscar expands best pic nominations to 10
Twitter litter
The problem with all of the 'we're tracking the most popular links on Twitter' sites...
Soccer in South Africa - Pictures
Asia's Top 50 Internet People by Twitter Followers
Pain and Posture: The Basics
What Your Facial Hair Really Says About You
Email patterns can predict impending doom
Email logs can provide advance warning of an organisation reaching crisis point. That's the tantalising suggestion to emerge from the pattern of messages exchanged by Enron employees.
Ever Wondered What The Most Common Names On Facebook Are? Here’s A List
Sania Mirza, Mugdha Godse, Celina Jaitley, Ranbir Kapoor, Lara Dutta
I get that Globosport is managing them but build such crappy sites which don't even belong in the 90's.
The story behind this website
For as long as Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada, I vow to send him every two weeks, mailed on a Monday, a book that has been known to expand stillness. That book will be inscribed and will be accompanied by a letter I will have written. I will faithfully report on every new book, every inscription, every letter, and any response I might get from the Prime Minister, on this website.
Yann Martel
The Story (so far) of Twitter - The poster
Where There's Smoke...
If they are going to have such graphics on the ciggy packs I might just start smoking again!
WALL·E end title sequence
and interview with end title sequence director Jim Capobianco and animator Alexander Woo from Pixar.
Lifestream Backup
Currently they support Flickr, Photobucket, Twitter, Google Docs, Delicious bookmarks and Wordpress

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-06-21T01:21:00.001+05:30

Jobs Had Liver Transplant
Get well soon.
2012 - Trailer
Looks good.
Venn Diagram - Happiness in Business
Rediff Message Board Gets Its First-Ever Decent Comment In 10 Years
:)
Grey-sky thinking: Nine extraordinary clouds
50 Books/50 Covers of 2008 selections
After careful and considered review of more than 900 entries, the 2008 jury of the "AIGA 50 books/50 Covers" competition selected a group of 91 examples of outstanding book and book cover design produced in 2008.
More Appropriate Wi-Fi Network Names for My Fellow Apartment Building Tenants
:)
CNBC Breaking News: Obama Swats A Fly
A New Channel Is Born: ET Now Goes On Air With 'The Economic Times Advantage'
The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English
I think I am definitely in love with you, but I'm not sure
What is a Browser?
Was the question we asked over 50 passersby of different ages and backgrounds in the Times Square in New York. Watch the many responses people came up with.
New Glimpses of Life's Puzzling Origins
Fallen Princesses
These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The '...happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues.
Opera Unite reinvents the Web
The delicate art of the man-cry
After his Australian Open defeat -- in which he sobbed so unattractively and uncontrollably that a commercial break was needed to allow him time to gather himself -- I was beginning to think Federer, like so many athletes before, was a lost cause.
But on Sunday, as he stood at the podium with the Swiss national anthem playing and drops of rain falling from the Paris sky, Federer bowed his head, took a deep breath and went John Q on us.
It was a thing of beauty: minimal facial distortion, perfectly paced tears, measured strength, snotless.
Shutter Island - Trailer
Martin Scorsese's new film starring Leonardo Dicaprio.
Hunch
Has launched.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-06-14T00:18:00.002+05:30

Renting a house in Bangalore
Lotsa good advice.
Divorced City trader raffles off £1.5 million lifestyle
A newly divorced City trader is raffling off his £1.5 million house and possessions because he claims they hold too many painful memories - but still stands to rake in £2.5 million profit from the competition.
Smart guy. The competition - Win A New Life.
Nude, Mona Lisa-Like Painting Surfaces
Leonardo da Vinci, in a Renaissance version of Mad Magazine, may have painted his famous Mona Lisa in a number of ways, including nude. Now, a painting has surfaced that looks much like the original, sparking debate over just how far the master took his iconic painting.
Iran's Presidential Election - Pictures
IKEA drops investment plans in India worth $1bn
:(
In South Korea, All of Life Is Mobile
Kim Hee-young, a statistics major at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, wakes up in the morning when her mobile phone detonates an alarm, a loud Korean pop song. She checks weather forecasts on its screen before selecting what to wear.
In the subway, Ms. Kim breezes through the turnstile after tapping the phone on a box that deducts the fare from a chip that contains a cash balance. While riding to school, she uses her mobile to check if a book has arrived at the library, slays aliens in a role-playing game, updates her Internet blog or watches TV.
On campus, she and other students touch their mobiles to the electronic box by the door to mark their attendance.
Experts say South Korea is the test case for the mobile future.
WordPress 2.8 Release Jazzes Themes and Widgets
Go upgrade.
Swissarmius Cutlery Holder
Nice.
Silly facebook song
Nice.
Non-Safety Schools
:)
Aesop's Wife's Fables
:)
There's an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter -- really
Blind Prom
Sarah Wilson's photos from the prom for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
The Uniform Project
Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies.
Very creative she is.
Collections
Collections are groups of related add-ons assembled for easy sharing. New feature on the add-ons site for Firefox which has been spruced up.
Pixar Announces Up, Newt, The Bear and the Bow and Cars 2
How did I miss this.
Rubber Bandit
Me wanting.
Quick Fruit
Nice packaging concept.
Save J.D. Salinger's archives!
Even if we have to save them from Salinger himself.
If the man has written something over all these years we have the right to read it...umm..or something like that.
Coming Soon: Facebook Usernames
Well they are already here and mine is already taken :|
Exclusive: The Future of Facebook Usernames
:)
But If We Started Dating It Would Ruin Our Friendship Where I Ask You To Do Things And You Do Them
:)
Color In Nature: Beetles
Wow. Not for those who don't like bugs.
Slaughter House Files
Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail could have been thwarted. Transcripts of police officers' frantic calls from Ground Zero on 26/11 reveal a story of terrifying - almost criminal - official chaos.
Yuva
The recession hasn't slowed down magazine launches. Apart from this one the recent ones I have spotted include - Open, Caravan and 360 Career Builder.
How to Tell Real Breasts from Fake
Without touching them that is. You can also tell by the way the skin seems too stretched out/taut. NSFW.
Bowling At The Death
Cricket's stars are a ruthless lot, many have crashed and burned at its hallowed pitch. The game that begets a few stars is also father to thousands of disaffected, depressed men.
Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest
When the thrill of blogging is gone...
Back in the rat race
Avinash Yadav's family lived on the frugal earnings of his father, who grazed cattle and sold milk for a living. But with an ICL cheque of about Rs 70 lakh, the Yadavs now have their own house in Benaras and a gleaming SX4 to give company to the cows and buffaloes in the courtyard. "I'm from a lower-middle class family. They don't know what the BCCI is or what the ICL means. All they know is that because of cricket our lives have become more comfortable," says the left-arm spinner, who didn't go beyond playing a few Ranji Trophy games because of Murali Kartik's presence in the Central Zone side.
Few of the "Check please" bits from Goodness Gracious Me

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-06-07T00:30:00.002+05:30

Chaat transcript
Bangalore's finest paani puri joints...supposedly. For things like paani puri you need to go beyond 'joints'.
Hungry for action
Food worth Rs 58,000 crore is wasted every year because even after 20 years of debate India has failed to create the infrastructure needed to enable the farm-to-fork revolution.
This is something that keeps pissing me off.
atul's bollywood song a day- with full lyrics
Along with Sunday links, this blog was supposed to have a Friday movie review, a Saturday song of the week...but anyway...good to see someone else doing a great job of it.
Weekend Competition: Tom Swifties
"Tom Swifties" are curious puns that monkey with the description of reported speech for comic effect. For example:
"I manufacture table tops," said Tom counterproductively.
"Let's have a debate about cows," Tom mooted.
"Who discovered radium?" asked Marie curiously.
Stop Doing Sit-Ups: Why Crunches Don't Work
Dhoni takes strike
Why I love Dhoni.
The secret healing powers of Bangalore's traffic
In Bangalore, Mrs. Neo has quickly learned that if she keeps gasping and sighing for every near-miss, she will hyperventilate faster than a tragically over-enthusiastic Art of Living newbie.
:)
Anthony Bourdain's 13 Places to Eat Before You Die
Strike Ends... Finally!
Hooray!! Given the backlog and the consequent flood of releases, I'll have to seek temporary accommodation at PVR.
My Brief Life as a Woman
Text of Obama's Speech in Cairo
Why Health Advice on 'Oprah' Could Make You Sick
I tried watching her a few times but more than her its the hysterical audience that I can't tolerate. Also...for some reason...standing and clapping for everything has become the norm in America.
Marilyn Monroe - Never-Published Photos
Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads
Very good list.
Sulfur mining in Kawah Ijen - Pictures
...and you think your job sucks?
If Apple Bought Twitter
:)
Blogger Buzz: Search Box gadget available to all
Toy Story 3 - Teaser
WordPress 2.8: What's new
Comic - Troll Slayer
:)
Rafa in shocking pink and yellow
Brave man or maybe it was a sign of things to come.
What's changed on Cricinfo
The redesign has launched and as is with every redesign...everybody hates it. Uhh...some things never change.
10 things you didn't know about orgasm
'Bonk' author Mary Roach delves into obscure scientific research, some of it centuries old, to make 10 surprising claims about sexual climax, ranging from the bizarre to the hilarious.
Dream over: Boyle finishes second in reality show

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-05-31T01:25:00.002+05:30

Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
Or...where's my jet pack, dude?
100 Abandoned Houses
Haunting is the word I suppose.
Ricky Gervais on Inside The Actor's Studio - Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, says Kofi Annan thinktank
MovieStinger
Lets you know whether or not a movie has extra footage or scenes after the credits.
No wonder The Simpsons movie is top rated. I saw the first day first show but 'couldn't hold it in' (just like Bart) till all the credits rolled. Read the reviews later and found out Lisa speaks her first word during the credits. Had to go back and watch it again.
Summer Reading 2009
For Teenagers, Hello Means 'How About a Hug?'
I am pro-hugs.
Archie Makes His Choice (Or Does He?)
And it's Veronica.
Interview with the First Lady
Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web.
Wave is what email would look like if it were invented today.
Coming soon: the new Cricinfo
Finally...looking forward to it.
Meet Bing, Microsoft's New Search Engine
Minigeek - Ed. 36 - The retweet
:)
Meet India's youngest MP!
Get this...PA Sangma, former Speaker, has 4 kids...2 daughters and 2 sons, and is a fan of writers Agatha Christie and James Conrad. So guess what his kids are named? Agatha, Christie, Conrad and James...of course!
Mongoose mayhem is beastly for bowlers
The new Twenty20 bat gives batsmen an unfair advantage, especially as they are allowed to swap to it mid-innings. What it looks like
Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling - Pictures
Quite something...
Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers
Caring for Your Introvert. Also - Confessions of an Introverted Traveler (Both via)
The Deck Ad Network Readership Survey
Now thats a survey!
Memorial Day, 2009 - Photos
100 Most Creative People In Business
Don't know what business AR Rahman is in though.
Dumped: The Survival Guide
Essential reading.
Twenty thoughts on the IPL
Again am reminded of this article. If the teams are evenly matched it is just going to be a lottery.
Study ranks Mallika Sarabhai's website the best
While the websites of LK Advani and Mallika Sarabhai were the most frequently updated, Sarabhai's went a step further by raising funds, maintaining transparency and educating the voters about their constituencies.
Future want-to-be MP's hire the guy who ran her online campaign.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-05-24T01:30:00.003+05:30

India's massive general election - Pics
A bit disappointing this time around...I suppose you can photograph an ink-stained finger in so many ways only.
Comic - Simply Explained - Part 42
A money making proposal for Twitter :)
Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued
Google's New Logo Look
B'lore English dailies face newbie heat
Among the newbies DNA(the other being Deccan Chronicle) has started of very well. I had hoped that it would replace Times as my newspaper of choice. But that hasn't happened. Am still looking...
Yahoo! India Buzz
RunPee
Picks the best time in a movie to head to the bathroom and let's you know what happened while you were there.
This is what the interweb was made for.
Fake IPL Player: FIP RIP
This final post(a video one) was supposed to be the big reveal but I think the consequences (and the gains to be made by remaining anonymous) stopped him. I see a book and maybe a proper column next time around.
TAM Data Says CNN IBN Was Most Watched As Poll Results Unfolded
I thought NDTV had the better 'stats' ticker at the bottom though their maps were horrible. They probably also annoyed their viewers by the constant chatter even though it was light-hearted. They had the advantage of having more recognisable faces while IBN and Times Now had to hold fort with just Rajdeep and Arnab.
Photos - Russia observes Victory Day
Sherlock Holmes - Trailer
Don't really know what to make of this...it will be hard to shake off all that conditioning...
Impassive Indians
Recent campaigns urging the country's youth to vote have had little influence, finds an IMRB survey.
Sew in Love
Very nice!
25 examples of great architecture
Homes that is.
Grid Wall Pockets
Nice!
Wolfram|Alpha
Has launched.
Also, Five Things Wolfram Alpha Does Better (And Vastly Different) Than Google
Its definitely not in the same space as Google. Not sure where to place it though and whether it will be useful.
Lens Blog
A photoblog thing from the NY Times.
Someone's Gunning For Anil Ambani
There is a sinister, little-known precursor to the chopper sabotage incident.
Also - Ambani chopper case: Borge's death not a suicide
This reads like one of those masala fiction novels.
Presenting World's First Diet Air Coolers: Diet Tv Commercial
Like the ad for some reason. Wonder who wrote the copy.
Iyer Matter
Found myself linking to more than one post here so thought I'll link to whole blog instead.
Q&A: Obama on Dick Cheney, War and Star Trek
WordPress Version 2.8
Vir Sanghvi
This morning in the NDTV studio, Mukul Kesavan and I thought of a new acronym for Modi's brand of politics: DAD.
It stands for Death And Development.
Veggies and fruits - storage tips

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-05-17T01:00:00.002+05:30

Elections Results
I was pretty confident of a Congress/UPA lead but certainly didn't expect them to do this well. Was only hoping that they didn't have to rely on the stupid Left or even worse...the 'oily' Mulayamar. Though they still have to contend with the very flaky Momta didi.
One disappointment though was Bangalore with no wins for the Congress(infact the whole of Karnataka was a disappointment). Another disappointment was that the Left wasn't decimated. Maybe next time. Same for Gowda and Son. One other disappointment was Andhra where Chiru didn't do all that well. (Am a big fan :|)
Major gains in UP will probably lead people to see Rahul baba in a different light. I think both Congress and BJP will gain if they fight it out alone. Only problem though is that parties aren't willing to lose a few elections in the short term for long term gains.
EasyWP Install (Beta)
Traditionally to install WordPress you would have to download the archive, extract it to your computer, upload over 600 files to your website, and then set up your databases, etc.
EasyWP takes all this pain an complexity out of installing WordPress by automating the whole process.
Spam : Elliott Burford
An ongoing project illustrating the titles of emails found in your spam/junk box.
:)
Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life
He has solved a problem that for 20 years has thwarted researchers trying to understand the origin of life how the building blocks of RNA, called nucleotides, could have spontaneously assembled themselves in the conditions of the primitive earth. The discovery, if correct, should set researchers on the right track to solving many other mysteries about the origin of life. It will also mean that for the first time a plausible explanation exists for how an information-carrying biological molecule could have emerged through natural processes from chemicals on the primitive earth.
Official Gmail Blog: Import your mail and contacts from other accounts
Am still resisting...
Indian Readership Survey R1 2009: Some Highlights
Way too many people give competitive exams here.
The 50 Greatest Movie Monologues
The Simpsons theme song - a cappella
Awesome :)
Google unveils new search tools
The inevitable ugliness of the IPL trophy
Finally somebody points it out. The commentators obviously wouldn't. Just cos you can and have slapped every precious stone you can find doesn't hide the fact of its gaudy hideousness. At least they could've gotten the sizes of the letters equal!
Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz
Some really funny reviews of milk on Amazon.com (via)
A blogger is engaged to be married to a man who began his connection to her as a commenter on her blog
In defence of keeping your comments open?
President Obama at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner - Part 1, Part 2
mysunnybalcony
MySunnyBalcony: a project aimed at giving everyone the dream garden that they've always wanted, right outside their windows.
Any space that receives even a little bit of sunlight is a potential MySunnyBalcony space: A tiny unusable patch outside your front door, an ugly terrace on your roof, or even a back balcony in your your high rise apartment.
Bangalore-based. Nice.
Ignorance is no bliss says Tony Lewis
Interview with Tony Lewis, one half of the Duckworth-Lewis team.
Mad As A Batter
Twenty20 is not a many-nuanced battle. It's akin to a duel with pistols, a game of chance, not a battle of strategy. Team owners need to understand this.
And so do the spectators.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-05-10T00:01:00.000+05:30

How David Beats Goliath
When underdogs break the rules by Malcolm Gladwell.
All You Need to Know to Tweet on Twitter
Levi Meeuwenberg - Freerunning Showreel
Nice! A bit like parkour but more artistic.
Vodafone ZooZoos
Hutch has changed to Vodafone here in India but their advertising pattern remains the same. They overdid the 'kutta' ads and now again these...Am already sick of 'em.
The Art of Penguin Science Fiction Book Covers
2009 Swine Flu outbreak - Photos
Searching For Sachin
Sachin Tendulkar is the subject - cricket is the game. Biographer cvwilliams keeps you up-to-date on her research on the life of the brilliant batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
40 Stunning and Creative Graffiti Artworks
At Home With Tom Colicchio - Interview
Recipes tell you nothing. Learning techniques is the key.
Buy the best you can find or afford and don't overmanipulate it. If I cook a scallop, the best praise you can give me is that it tastes like a scallop.
10 Things You Didn't Know About Emoticons :)
Goodness Gracious Me! - Going out for an english and Asian Top Gear
RGV's Rann - First look
How to Block Facebook Photos of Yourself
The Webby Awards Remain the Best Scam Going and Category Inflation at the Webbys
Internet Star @ Least 473 Years Old
Because it is used in every e-mail address and many tweets, you might be forgiven for thinking that the remarkably common symbol @, which English-speakers know as the "at sign," but Italians call a "snail," and south Slavs know as a "monkey," is a fairly recent invention. In fact, as Wired magazine's Tony Long points out, a Florentine merchant named Francesco Lapi used the symbol @ in a letter written 473 years ago today, on May 4, 1536.
No solution, no show: filmmaker-multiplex row on
:|
First Look: Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year
From the Shimit Amin/Jaideep Sahni combo.
Philips - Carousel
Created by Tribal DDB and Stink Digital, this new interactive campaign promotes Philips latest entrant into the television market, the CINEMA 21:9.
Excellent!
Photos - The 2009 Kentucky Derby
...for years i've been looking for this lucky shot...
Why text messages are limited to 160 characters
Ed Pilkington meets Ray Kurzweil, the man who predicts future
The head of Google's new university, Ray Kurzweil believes the advance of technology will solve the energy crisis, upgrade the human genome and even lead to everlasting life - no wonder he is so optimistic.
An invention that could change the internet for ever
Revolutionary new web software could put giants such as Google in the shade when it comes out later this month.
15 Unusual and Creative Bus Stops

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-05-03T00:56:00.001+05:30

The joy of exclamation marks
Exclamation marks used to be frowned upon. Now look what's happened! We use them all the time! Hurrah!!! But what is it about the age of email that gets people so over-excited?
Let's Hear It for the Bees
Flowers of a given species all produce nectar at about the same time each day, as this increases the chances of cross-pollination. The trick works because pollinators, which in most cases means the honeybee, concentrate foraging on a particular species into a narrow time-window. In effect the honeybee has a daily diary that can include as many as nine appointments - say, 10:00 a.m., lilac; 11:30 a.m., peonies; and so on. The bees' time-keeping is accurate to about 20 minutes.
WhiteHouse 2.0
WhiteHouse on the web.
Mowing with goats
Google is renting goats to mow fields at their headquarters instead of lawn mowers! and PETA On The Google Goats: Let Them Eat Grass (But They Need Perks)
An analysis of your Masturbation timeline
WHO fears pandemic is 'imminent'
The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five - indicating human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. It is a "strong signal that a pandemic is imminent", the WHO says.
I keep telling...one of these days a flu is going to wipe out a lot of us.
100 days of Barack Obama's Facebook news feed
This Facebook news feed bit is becoming a bit stale.
Julie & Julia - Trailer
Plot: The film follows Powell, a government employee who decides to cook her way through legendary cook Julia Child's classic cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' in one year's time out of her small Queens kitchen. Powell blogs her daily experiences, gaining a loyal following along the way.
The Pizza Box of the Future Has Arrived
Nice.
Human landscapes from above
Some stunning pics there.
The Twitter Approval Matrix
Our deliberately oversimplified guide to whose tweets are worth following.
I'm an idiot and have just started listening to podcasts via TEDtalks. Any other recommendations?
I listen to/watch - The Bugle, Cook's Illustrated, Fresh TV, Design Matters with Debbie Milman, Onion News, The Ricky Gervias Podcast, Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite, The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, Start Cooking, WYNC's Radio Lab and of course TED talks.
Delivering on Change - a set on Flickr
Pics from the Official White House photostream of Obama's 100 days in office. Some real good ones there.
moot wins, Time Inc. loses
This morning Time.com published the final result for their annual TIME 100 Poll. Time reports that the new owner of the title 'Worlds's most influential person, is moot'. What TIME doesn't say is that their poll was so totally manipulated that the results of the poll are not an indication of who is the most influential, but instead they stand as a monument to Time's incompetence.
Comic - Swine Flu
Twitter is great for watching uninformed panics unfold live :)

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-04-26T01:20:00.002+05:30

Kamran's dream run-up: From tennis-ball cricket in UP village to Shane Warne's super over
in which the producer-multiplex owner battle forces the blogger to protest
With no end in sight to the strike I am getting crankier by the day. I am with the producers on this one. I hate the multiplexes' arbitrariness.
One, the way they jack up the ticket prices for major releases(like at PVR I paid 350 bucks for the first day first show of Ghajini and 250 for Singh Is King, Bachna Ae Haseeno and Jaane Tu, when the usual price is supposed to be 160/170 bucks).
Two, the pricing of the food stuff. PVR charges 60 bucks for popcorn when the thing can be made for 2 bucks(Act II) and get this...PVR situated on the 3rd floor of Forum Mall charges 50 bucks for Pepsi. Climb down one floor and go to the Transit food court on the 2nd floor and the same quantity of Pepsi is available for 23 bucks!
Three, is the show timings. I watch at least 3-4 movies a week and have been doing so consistently for 3-4 years, most of them at PVR, and not one of those hundreds of shows has ever started on time.
Four, the cancellation of shows/movies. At PVR they seem to have arrived at some sorta 'quorum' of 6/7. Less than that number of people and the show is cancelled. I don't know how much of a difference it makes whether one person watches it or 6. (And they don't tell you that the show is cancelled. They say its 'sold out'. I almost a heart attack when I was told a few weeks back that tickets for Abhijeet Sawant's debut movie, Lottery, were 'sold out'!)
FMyLife Moments in Greek Mythology
:)
Articles of Clothing That Go Well With Distressed Jeans
:)
Cure For Honey Bee Colony Collapse?
Two overs too many
Sambit Bal isn't a fan of the Super Over and asks, "So what's wrong with a tie?"...hmmm...am inclined to agree with him on this.
3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late
Yahoo Quietly Pulls The Plug On Geocities
I spent countless hours in tiny cyber cafes on sloooow connections building my first website on Geocities.
Kashyap and the music in his films
One of the less talked about aspects of his movies. No Smoking is esp. the one that doesn't get much attention. One, cos nobody saw the movie and two, cos the score focuses on a singular not very relatable topic.
How Room Designs Affect Your Work and Mood
PHD Comics: Tales from the Road talks about cancer
The sad truth.
To Tweet or Not to Tweet
Evan Williams and Biz Stone of Twitter interviewed by Maureen Dowd. Why the hell is she so bitchy...
Turns out she pissed off a lot of other people. Couple of reactions - In defense of Twitter and the hilarious, Ms. Dowd Interviews the Inventor of the Telephone
The Bride Was Beautiful - Series of photos
Katie Kirkpatrick, 21, held off cancer to celebrate the happiest day of her life. Katie had chased away cancer once, only to have it return - to clog her lungs and grab hold of her heart. Breathing was difficult now, she had to use oxygen. The pain in her back was so intense it broke through the morphine that was supposed to act as a shield. Her organs were shutting but it would not stop her from marrying Nick Godwin, 23, who was in love with Katie since 11th grade. Five days later, Katie died.
(click on the bigger bubble on the bottom right to navigate)
Bookshelf-annotation
Nice!
Waterfall Shower to Rain Shower
Nice!
The Pulitzer-winning investigation that dare not be uttered on TV
Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.
Fake IPL Player
Has the IPL owners chaddis in a twist. Much fun. There were reports that the blogger was Ranadeb Bose or Aakash Chopra and that 'he' had been caught. Other reports have suggested that the blogger isn't with the Kolkotta Knight Riders but is with a rival team and has a 'source' in KKR. That makes this a very serious issue.
Cyber pass
A few South Bangalore candidates are betting on an Obama strategy for their campaigns, and looking hard at the internet.
Must say I have wondered if I should ever join a campaign team for a candidate. Quickly realised though that I find no single candidate compelling enough. (Although, if Priyanka Gandhi ever decides to join politics, I would be very interested in joining her campaign team :)
Google Similar Images
Similar Images allows you to search for images using pictures rather than words.
Google Timeline
Organise Google news and search results on a timeline.
Nixon's Undelivered Moon Disaster Speech [1969]
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The following speech, revealed in 1999, was prepared by Nixon's then speechwriter, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts on the moon.
Link by Link - Creator of Web Cartoon xkcd Writing a Paper Book
xkcd is one of my faves.
Show me the money say lyricists and music composers
Strangely enough in Bollywood, neither of them have any rights on the songs.
The painful truth about trainers: Are expensive running shoes a waste of money?
Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips...the $20 billion running - shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we've been told about running shoes is wrong - and that it might even be better to go barefoot...
We Live in Public (and the end of empathy)
Are we going to destroy ourselves to the point at which we unplug the Internet? Are we going to have to create private areas for discourse and lose the "Open Web" gestalt?
Singletasking
Hmm...should try to implement.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-04-19T00:45:00.002+05:30

10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About
Shai Agassi's bold plan for electric cars
Forget about the hybrid auto -- Shai Agassi says it's electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020.
Been following him for a while...hope he succeeds.
Twitshirt
Turn a tweet into a T shirt.
Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter 'turning point'
As Ashton Kutcher becomes the first to collect 1 million followers on Twitter and Oprah Winfrey sends out her first tweet, tech observers are debating: Does Friday mark a new peak for the microblogging service? Or the beginning of its demise?
Whatever...
Inquiries and Mitigations Made by Both Your Financial Consultant and Your Gynecologist
:)
15 Creative Ads in Unusual Places
Cricinfo - Indian Premier League 2009 - IPL Page 2
Just a number away from Page 3.
The high costs of running YouTube
User-generated content may have changed the Internet, but sites like YouTube are suffocating under the costs of storing it.
9-months-old Colors dethrones STAR Plus the king for 9 years
Quite amazing that. I still think there is space for more channels esp. for a Hindi music channel since there is hardly any music on MTV and Channel V these days.
A blow for fans of boiled lobster
Turns out crabs and lobsters do feel pain. They still taste yummy though.
Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent
The woman is everywhere. If you still haven't seen this where the hell have you been...
Six myths about Indian elections
Do women in India vote according to the wishes of their husbands? Do Muslims vote as a community? Political scientist Yogendra Yadav examines six myths surrounding the Indian elections.
Comic - Inconceivable
:)
Scientists warn of Twitter dangers
Rapid-fire TV news bulletins or getting updates via social-networking tools such as Twitter could numb our sense of morality and make us indifferent to human suffering, scientists say.
I'm just tweeting to tell you I blogged
Ya...what's up with that!
'Gay writing' falls foul of Amazon sales ranking system
Online retailer blames reduced profiles of Winterson, Hollinghurst, Vidal and others on glitch in new family-friendly charts.
Kamran Khan
...when he had to travel to attend trial camps, he used to sleep at railway stations, for he couldn't afford hotels. "Be it Lucknow or Kanpur, I used to sleep at platforms. I used to buy a platform ticket and spend the night there," recalls Kamran.
Now, in a five-star hotel in South Africa, he is experiencing a different set of problems. "I'm not used to these comforts, having slept all these years on a rough floor. Neend hi nahi aayee pehli raat (I couldn't sleep on the first night)," he laughs.
Being touted as the next big star in Indian cricket.
Blogertize does a MillionDollarHomepage for Indian blogs
Juice box packaging by Naoto Fuksawa
Nice!
Rakta Charitra
Ram Gopal Varma's next based on the life of notorious politician Paritala Ravi.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-04-12T01:15:00.002+05:30

OPEN Magazine
RPG's newly launched magazine with Outlook's founder Sandipan Deb at the helm. Is placing itself as a features, current affairs mag rather than a news mag which is good considering most news mags inevitably end up stale cos of their weekly/fortnightly publication. Has a nice clean design...much better than the recently redesigned India Today and definitely better than Outlook. Judging from the 2 issues that I have read, there were quite a few interesting articles but the writing seems a bit uneven. (An interview with Savita Bhabhi's maker seems to be the du jour thing to do for most publications.)
Squirrels!
Photos - Holy Week
Free Music Archive
An interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads.
A different way to think about creative genius
Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person 'being' a genius, all of us 'have' a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.
She is the one who wrote Eat Pray Love.
Tampa Bay Mug Shots
Online resource displaying police photographs and charges for people arrested within the last twenty-four hours in Pinellas, Hillsbourough and Pasco Counties in Florida. Hmm...
Ford About To Test The Limits Of Social Media Branding
Ford is giving its new Fiesta to a 100 people to drive around. Recipients range from award-winning indie filmmakers, to single moms, to aspiring dancers, and even avid gamers, and theyll document their experiences with the car through YouTube vignettes, blog posts and other social media updates for six months. And Ford will have no control over what they post.
Dr Batra's homoeopathy clinics under FDA scanner
I think its time we put an end to this homeopathy thing.
GM and Segway announce two-wheeled urban transport vehicle. Its website.
It looks quite unsafe considering it will be moving at a fair speed.
Indian Broadband's Mbit Eyewash
Don't get me started...
How Obama Is Using the Science of Change
On how a secret team of leading behavioral scientists advised Obama during the campaign and how his administration is using behavioral science to bring about change.
A joke from the article - How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: Just one, but the bulb really has to want to change :)
Import Your Old Hotmail Messages into Gmail
India's 15th general election: tools for citizen empowerment
Google launches Indian election website. (Its calling it the 'largest democratic event in human history'. Fancy...)
Perfect Scrambled Eggs Breakfast
Demonstrated by Gordon Ramsay.
What's Blooking?
The love of food brims over, conquers the blogosphere.
On Indian food bloggers.
Krishna Byre Gowda
Congress' Bangalore South candidate's website. He doesn't seem to be blogging but is using Twitter extensively.
Bangalore South is turning out to be an interesting contest with no shortage of good candidates. There's BJP's Ananth Kumar who is the 4-time winner, Capt. Gopinath of Deccan Aviation who is being supported by the JD(U) and Prof. K.E. Radhakrishna, the academician, who is the JD(S) candidate.
Rahul baba's pick Byregowda seems to be the best bet though. He is young(36), educated(amreeka return), has some political experience(2-time MLA and Youth Congress president) and is smart and well-spoken(from whatever little I have heard of him). Of course...need to do a bit more digging than that.
Some other candidates who are using the interweb - Meera H Sanyal, Shashi Tharoor, Mallika Sarabhai(She is fiesty).
Radio Sure - Free Internet Radio Player
Very nice! Been trying it out for a couple of days now.
IPL Teams Launch Websites & Fan Zones
Mirchi tops in Delhi, Kolkata; Red FM in Mumbai; Big in Bengaluru
Don't know why and when all the FM stations here decided to stick with Kannada. Radio Indigo is the only one with English music and Radio One is the only one with Hindi gaane and its quite lousy.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-04-05T00:56:00.002+05:30

On url shorteners
I just hate them. Don't think I have ever used them or want to use them.
Eatmecrunchy cereal bowl
Never have soggy cereal again.
Chemist explains navel fluff
I have an unending fascination with navel lint and here's some explanation...finally.
Exercises for tendonitis and carpal tunnel
Eyes, back and now the wrist. Think I should take an early retirement from web design. But these exercises are good.
Recent scenes from Afghanistan
April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.
Links to may of the April Fools Day jokes.
I liked the Guardian one, which said they are shutting down the newspaper and switching to Twitter.
A mammoth project is also under way to rewrite the whole of the newspaper's archive, stretching back to 1821, in the form of tweets. Major stories already completed include '1832 Reform Act gives voting rights to one in five adult males yay!!!'; 'OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more'; and 'JFK assassin8d @ Dallas, def. heard second gunshot from grassy knoll WTF?'
:)
BEST Office of the Dy. Engineer Erection(South)
:)
Email in Indian languages
Gmail now in 5 Indian languages.
KJo wants to check out Savita Bhabhi
Karan Johar may sue the porn site for stealing Bachchan's KANK look. Uhhh...
Been wanting to link to a few TED talks but I never got around to it as I watch them in iTunes. Anyway...
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity - Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
David Merrill demos Siftables, the smart blocks - MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning?"
Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense - This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine 'Minority Report' and then some. Mistry these days is the toast of the tech world.
Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs - Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs -- she's got a dozen amazing pairs -- and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height ... Quite simply, she redefines what the body can be.
Kamal Meattle on how to grow your own fresh air - Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air. All three are easily available and quite hardy. Esp. the 'Money plant' which can be grown using hydrophonics.
Photos - Earth Hour 2009
Click on the pics to toggle the before/during Earth hour scene.
Leaving computers on overnight = $2.8 billion a year
Dancing To Connect To A Global Tribe
People want to feel connected to each other. They want to be heard and seen, and they're curious to hear and see others from places far away.
By Matt Harding of the 'Where The Hell is Matt' videos.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-03-29T00:16:00.001+05:30

Hunch!
Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake launches Hunch, a 'decision-making' site.
Hate Facebook's new look? You'll like it soon enough
Stop whining about it.
Yaa...
Facebook users over 35 double in number in just two months, and more stunning data
Women over 55 comprise the fastest growing demographic.
Peg you have way too many friends.
A new type of ball must be developed after the dearth of wickets in the recent West Indies-England Test series
I still can't believe that they don't have standard ball (and that they can't make a white ball that lasts 50 overs).
School assignment to reinterpret the fairytale Little red riding hood.
Sooper!
Twouble with Twitters
:)
Arsebook
Arsebook is an anti-social utility that connects you with the people YOU HATE.
I'll surely have more 'friends' on this than on Facebook.
Wikirank
What's popular on Wikipedia.
How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign
The untold story of how Chris Hughes, today only 25 years old, helped create two of the most successful startups in modern history, Facebook and the Barack Obama campaign.
Ads to your ride
In an initiative that is the first of its kind in India to woo advertisers, 60,000 autos in Bangalore will have an LCD screen installed behind the driver featuring ads, socially relevant messages and emergency numbers. Auto drivers will get a monthly rental and be provided insurance cover.
Noah Stokes
Now that's what a portfolio should look like.
Photos - Mexico's drug war
Children's Bedrooms from Dearkids
Responding to Your Feedback
Facebook relents.
Big Think
BigThink is a global online forum conducting interviews with lots of interesting folk on many different topics.
Nice.
ExecTweets
Find and Follow Top Business Execs on Twitter
Skimmer is an Adobe AIR desktop application designed to streamline, beautify, and enhance the experience of participating in your most frequently used social networking activities.
As of now it supports Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Blogger and Twitter.
Japan: Blurring the line between bullets and trains
It's not enough that trains run on time in Japan -- they've got to break land records. In 2025, the country plans to be traveling by rail at 310 mph.
Food, Glorious Food Myths
Solving the Mystery of the Vanishing Bees
The mysterious ailment called colony collapse disorder has wiped out large numbers of the bees that pollinate a third of our crops. The causes turn out to be surprisingly complex, but solutions are emerging.
Giving my mother something to brag about
My fave blogger's book is finally out. Wonder when it'll release here.
T-Shirts for Hairy-Chested Men
:)
Photos - Signs of Spring
Comic - No Pun Intended
:)
NCP leader Supriya Sule's blog
10 Creative Bathroom Ads

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-03-22T01:32:00.002+05:30

When It Comes To Shampoo, Less Is More
Goodbye Google
Yes, it's true that a team at Google couldn't decide between two blues, so they're testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can't operate in an environment like that. I've grown tired of debating such miniscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.
To repeat what I said last week...Google is no place for a designer.
Reactions to the announcement - Google smothers designers, Google's "designer drain" and a more balanced one from, surprisingly enough, Valleywag - Google's Data Fetish Drives Away Its Top Designer
It's a microcosm of what's going wrong at Google: The rigorous culture of making every decision quantitative, every process algorithmic, results in a coldly efficient experience, with no room for the human quirkiness that makes sites like Flickr so appealing. It's hard to argue with Google's financial results. But who wants to work inside the bowels of a perfectly tuned machine? If Google runs by the numbers, it hardly needs humans. And that's why people like Bowman are leaving.
Barack Obama Interview With Jay Leno - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Still cool.
Academic 'discovers' six works by William Shakespeare
Facebook Polls Users On Redesign. 94% Hate It.
Firstly, design by democracy doesn't work. Secondly, if God herself came down to resdesign Facebook 94% users would still dislike it.
Who has the most Followers on Twitter? Top 100 for India
At #13(right now as I am posting this) is 13 yr old Meghna, who is probabay the most popular 13 yr old twitterer/blogger around.
Improving the Everyday: 8 Useful Objects that Need Fixing
Scenes from the recession
Photo Feature > Bharat Sikka's Indian Men
'American Idol' bosses have decided final four: Staffer
This was proved wrong this week when they didn't save Alexis. But it shouldn't really come as a surprise. I think they should start doing this on our singing contests.
MyAlltop
MyAlltop enables you to create a custom Alltop page that contains only the subscriptions to the websites and blogs you want.
My Life With Cables
Nice graphics. Check out the rest of the blog and subscribe to it.
SXSW Web Awards Winners
Opening More Control for Everyone
You can now make your Facebook profile public to everyone. I suppose its ok for people like me who don't mind making the profile public but I don't think too many people will opt for it.
Growing Sentences with David Foster Wallace
Nice. My English teacher used to tell me to...break it down...as I wrote 4 page essays in 9 sentences. That was back when I could actually write a proper sentence.
No money, no show: Films to go off multiplexes soon
That'll be the death of me :|
Indian Film Song Lyrics
Explained with simple graphs.
:)

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-03-15T00:32:00.001+05:30

SerendipiTea's New Workplace Line of Teas
:)
Photos - Holi - the Festival of Colors
Twitter Claims Valley Crown by Poaching Google's Top Designer
Google is no place for designers.
If you designed a Porn site would you put it on your resume?
I have asked this question myself.
How Much Is A Suggested Slot On Twitter Worth? Jason Calacanis Offers $250,000.
Welcome to Your New Home Page
Facebook updates.
Valley Exec Twitters Through Home Break-In
Good lord! Instead of observing/reacting/enjoying an event our first reaction is increasingly tending to be to pull out the laptop/mobile/camera and record it.
The the-80s-were-good-for-cinema post
Hmmm...I think the 80's weren't good for music not cinema...apart from exceptions like Umrao Jaan, Ijaazat...
Typographic World Map
Nice.
MeeHive - Your Personalized Newspaper
Good start.
Photos - Sri Lanka and its long war
Autodrivers want a Nano revolution
Pollution apart...I wonder if there is research to suggest that uniformity in the kinds of vehicles leads to better traffic management.
Jai Matadi Lets Rock! The Greatest Hits of Himesh Reshammiya
My Himess fave is Namastey London in which he got the benefit of a half decent lyricist in Javed Akhtar. And the fave from that movie - Yahi hota pyaar hai kya.
For Twitter C.E.O., Well-Orchestrated Accidents
My life has been a series of well-orchestrated accidents; I've always suffered from hallucinogenic optimism. I was broke for more than 10 years. I remember staying up all night one night at my first company and looking in couch cushions the next morning for some change to buy coffee.
A new view: is this the real Shakespeare?
Research suggests painting is the only portrait from life.
My Opus Radio
India's first online radio station for international music.
Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacks
A male chimpanzee in a Swedish zoo planned hundreds of stone-throwing attacks on zoo visitors, according to researchers. This is evidence that animals can plan for future events.
And we thought it was going to be the aliens or maybe the robots.
Stripgenerator
Create your own comic strip.
Flop ID
Compulsory ID cards for autorickshaws were thought to be the answer to passengers' woes. Today, the traffic department's stipulation has come a cropper as auto drivers have found various ingenious ways to skirt the rule.
The ID cards were definitely a good idea.
How books got their titles
TXT msg
poMs that can b delivered as txt msgs.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-03-08T00:39:00.004+05:30

Deccan Herald of Bangalore, India, redesigns
After being overtaken by TOI and a strong start by new entrant DNA, they had to do something...and thankfully it isn't Mario Garcia but Palmer Watson, who have done great work in the past.
A day in the life of...
9 Bangaloreans. A commercial pilot, a Kannada soap star, Pramod Mutalik, a triathlete, a recreation management consultant, the 7D bus conductor, a tattoo artist, a tomato and a male prostitute.
Auto Model
21-year-old Gayathri, a computer science student who wants to join the IAS, drives an auto and does part-time modelling for a living.
Quite a combo. The female auto driver is quite a rare species. I have only heard/read of them.
Want to know what's inside Tendulkar's kit bag?
A photo of Puttaparthi Sai Baba? Aiyoo...I suppose its better when some amount of mystery/ignorance remains when it comes to the people you adore/idolise. Feel the same after reading Mr. Bachchan's blog.
8x10 Tasveer - Theatrical trailer
Nagesh Kukunoor's next.
Introducing The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller Lists
Have taken to graphic novels recently. But I am not a fan of the fantasy/superhero kind but more the Persepolis kind. And I am finding out that the latter aren't really common.
Can you hear THIS? Musicians high frequency hearing test
A list of tones that go from 8Hz all the way up to 22,000Hz and should let you know just how much damage to your ears all those concerts, your ipod and your mom screaming at you have done so far.
Anger Is the Swiss Army Knife of Emotions T-shirt
Read through the comments too(not if you are one of those easily offended types).
15 Amazingly clever logos
Photos - Robots
al3x's Rules for Computing Happiness
The man behind Advani's online rallies
Pictures - Birds Stealing Ice-Cream
Obama Team Finds It Hard to Adapt Its Web Savvy to Government
Deconstructing the Missing Weeks of a Teacher's Life
On Aug. 28, a Thursday, a 23-year-old schoolteacher from Hamilton Heights named Hannah Emily Upp went for a jog along Riverside Drive. That jog is the last thing that Ms. Upp says she remembers before the deckhands rescued her from the waters of New York Harbor on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 16. The teacher suffers from dissociative fugue, a rare form of amnesia that causes people to forget their identity, suddenly and without warning, and can last from a few hours to years.
Its also called 'yaad daash khona' and our Bollywoodwalas discovered this disease along with its many cures a long time back.
London Underground Vintage Ads
Why Hair Goes Gray

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-03-01T00:37:00.002+05:30

Why Karma Is a Bitch
:)
Watch Nina Paley's film "Sita Sings the Blues"
Waiting for a better quality one to download.
Portraits from the Congo
Safari dominates browser benchmarks
Proving itself a staggering 42 times faster at rendering JavaScript than IE 7, our benchmarks confirm Apple's Safari 4 browser, released in beta Tuesday, is the fastest browser on the planet. In fact, it beat Google's Chrome, Firefox 3, Opera 9.6 and even Mozilla's developmental Minefield browser.
Hmm...lets give it a try.
Kaminey - First look
Vishal Bhardwaj's next. Really looking forward to this one. Like the Pulp Fiction inspired song. Seems like Vishal is a Tarantino fan...there was a tiny tribute in 'The Blue Umbrella' too.
Google Apps Status Dashboard
Google has set this up after the recent Gmail outrage.
Gallery opens doors to Bengaluru art lovers
The National Gallery of Modern Art is here and so is the National School of Drama.
Toys of my childhood
Bloggers can be nailed for views
A 19-year-old blogger's case could forever change the ground rules of blogging. Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content.
And even the comments were considered as blog content.
Between this and the Barkha Dutt thing, bloggers better watch out. If you want to be taken seriously, think about what you are writing seriously. And moderate your comments. But thats easier said than done. Cos here some bugger or the other is offended by something or the other. So what do you keep and what do you take down.
Just a thought...imagine people going through the Rediff message boards and including that as content...haan? :)
The Godfather Wars
In many ways, the men who made The Godfather-director Francis Ford Coppola, producer Al Ruddy, Paramount executives Robert Evans and Peter Bart, and Gulf & Western boss Charles Bluhdorn-were as ruthless as the gangsters in Mario Puzo's blockbuster. After violent disputes over the casting of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, they tangled with the real-life Mob, which didn't want the movie made at all. The author recalls how the clash of Hollywood sharks, Mafia kingpins, and cinematic geniuses shaped a Hollywood masterpiece.
Ajmal booked for entering railway station without ticket
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman, the only terrorist caught during the Mumbai attacks, has been booked for entering the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) without a railway ticket besides other serious offences registered against him.
Somebody has a sense of humour.
Supercool Video Explains New F1 Rules
Might start watching again.
Photos - Carnival
On my travel to-do list - visit Rio during the carnival.
Children's Loft Bedrooms by Sangiorgio Mobili
20 Brilliant TV Show Title Sequences
Six Feet Under has been a fave. It set the show up brilliantly.
How to Fix the Oscars: Make the Votes Public
Obamicon.Me
Make your own 'Obamicon' - your image in a style inspired by Shepard Fairey's iconic poster.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-02-22T00:29:00.001+05:30

The Biology of Belief
Science and religion argue all the time, but they increasingly agree on one thing: a little spirituality may be very good for your health.
I do believe that faith can heal but the problem is most people equate healing with 'cure' which it isn't. Also there is the 'minor' issue of a logical/reasonable person finding something good enough to place their faith in.
Dinner with a Stranger
If you got an email from a stranger, who said they'd donate $200 to a charity of your choice...if you'd have them(and a friend) to a vegetarian dinner would you say yes?
Photos - At work
Hindustan Times Being Redesigned; Mario Garcia On The Job
Wonder why all the Indian newspapers go for Garcia...not that he isn't good. But most of them end up in a mess in a few months. Either style guides aren't provided or if they are they aren't followed. Mint is the only one which seems to strictly adhere to the style guides.
Introducing the SXSW Web Awards Finalists
Autos with newspapers, internet and drivers you can trust
Is this heaven they are talking about?
Next change
Rex to go the multiplex way. Remember watching a few movies here when I first moved to the city. Infact most of the single-screens I used to frequent are no more. Plaza, Galaxy, Symphony, Lido...
Notgeld - Pre-Inflationary German Currency - a set on Flickr
Thats some colourful currency.
Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems
Shoving in the refrigerator seems to work for most problems...huh...
Sanjay Nirupam
is blogging.
ICC gets Yahoo! as the official Internet partner
iccevents.yahoo.com will have exclusive content from ICC. They have also launched cricket.yahoo.com
Virb
Rebooted.
WordPress Plugins Directory
Has been improved and has a better search. Long overdue.
Scenes from Pakistan
TIME - 25 Best Blogs 2009
Time seems to be overdoing this lists thing. Its only February!
In Defense of Readers
The design of the page should respect these three distinct phases: first, by inviting the reader in; second, by leaving her alone; and third, by providing avenues for her to continue to pursue her interests.
Universal Chargers to Finally Become a Reality
An initiative backed by both mobile phone manufacturers and operators will result in a universal charger based on the Micro-USB interface for new mobile phones.
Alien life 'may exist among us'
Never mind Mars, alien life may be thriving right here on Earth, a major science conference has heard. Our planet may harbour forms of 'weird life' unrelated to life as we know it.
Ya...there is so much to discover right here.
The First Christmas Cartoon Of The Year
:)
Nate Silver Predicts the Winners of the 2009 Oscars
After spending most of 2008 predicting the success of political actors-also called politicians-it's only natural that Nate Silver would turn his attention to the genuine article: the nominees in the major categories for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
Indibloggies 2008
Nominations are open.
35 Beautiful Examples Of Animal Photography
The Simpsons - NEW Main Title
The Simpsons new title sequence, first change in 19 years.
Carnal comic
An exclusive chat with one of the makers of the controversial and cult online pornographic comic series 'Savita Bhabhi'.
200,000 daily visitors.
Moral brigade taken aback by request for registered marriage
The moral brigade on the prowl during Valentine's day, was taken aback when a youth asked them to arrange for registered marriage when they cornered him and his lover.
I knew there would one 'clever' chap.
Calvin on the economy
:)
Shell Villa by ARTechnic Architects
Nice.
NY Times Article Skimmer

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-02-15T00:57:00.002+05:30

The Death Of "Web 2.0"
Good riddance. Hate the term.
Court Says Vaccine Not to Blame for Autism
In a blow to the movement arguing that vaccines lead to autism, a special court ruled on Thursday against three families seeking compensation from the federal vaccine-injury fund.
Gulal - Trailer
Anurag Kashyap's next.
Legal Guide for Bloggers
Things I Thought or Heard While Serving in Iraq
Am not sure if this is funny or not.
Amish hackers
The Amish have the undeserved reputation of being luddites, of people who refuse to employ new technology. It's well know the strictest of them don't use electricity, or automobiles, but rather farm with manual tools and ride in a horse and buggy. In any debate about the merits of embracing new technology, the Amish stand out as offering an honorable alternative of refusal. Yet Amish lives are anything but anti-technological. In fact on my several visits with them, I have found them to be ingenious hackers and tinkers, the ultimate makers and do-it-yourselfers and surprisingly pro technology.
Inglourious Basterds - Teaser trailer
Quentin Tarantino's new movie.
Facebook Mystery: Who Created "25 Random Things About Me"? and Evolution and Facebook's "25 Random Things About Me" craze
The bloody thing is everywhere.
How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook...Safely
My WordPress Tattoo
Reinvention draws near for Newsweek
Newsweek is about to begin a major change in its identity, with a new design, a much smaller and, it hopes, more affluent readership, and some shifts in its content. The venerable newsweekly's ingrained role of obligatory coverage of big events will be abandoned once and for all.
Picturesurf
Easy picture gallery creation. They have a plugin for WordPress too.
Smarterware
Gina 'Lifehacker' Trapani's new blog.
Photos - Bushfires in Victoria, Australia
Wall Street Journal launches India edition
The print edition is coming too.
Growing Rich by Blogging Is a High-Tech Fairy Tale
The reply - How I made over $2 million with this blog
Comic - TED Talk
How do you end parenthetical statements with emoticons?
:)
The Weirdest Goal Scoring Celebration Ever
What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks
Thats quite an elaborate routine.

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-02-08T00:50:00.001+05:30

Why Your Avatar Matters
Fortune-Cookie Messages Appropriate for Dickens Characters
:)
Doordarshan National
Old commercials, DD program theme songs and other clips.
Good idea for a blog. It can do with a few more clips...there are plenty on YouTube.
Tubaah
Collection of videos from the NDTV network(to begin with).
Great Performers - Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin
Nice.
An open letter to Barack Obama
By Ricky Gervais.
Sri Ram Sena's bizarre V-Day threat
They have threatened to forcibly 'marry off' couples dating in public on Valentine's Day.
Here's your chance guys...
Why I'm Quitting Facebook
Eyes Relax
A little free Windows utility that reminds you about rest-time and save your eyesight. This software allows you to customize the duration of your work time and length of breaks.
I have been using it to give breaks to by back though. I am not sure which one is more screwed...the back or the eyes.
Google India Internet Bus Project rolls in
An attempt educate people about what the Internet is, and how it may be beneficial to their lives, by taking the Internet experience to them through a customised Internet-enabled bus, which will travel to several towns and cities across India.
Don't Work for Assholes
Comic - Boyfriend
:) I should learn statistics.
Angrezi Ki Maa Behen
:)
Time for Federer to seek outside help
Stem Cell Research: The Quest Resumes
After eight years of political ostracism, stem-cell scientists like Harvard's Douglas Melton are coming back into the light--and making discoveries that may soon bring lifesaving breakthroughs.
World-Renowned Scientists Team With Google And NASA To Launch Singularity University
10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
Dive into the new Google Earth
Google has unveiled an expansion to Google Earth that includes part of the world's oceans.
Comic - The Big Conundrum
:)
Ten YouTube Comments Translated into Standard English
:)
35 Examples Of Beautiful City Photography
How Twitter Was Born

Links For A Sunday Morning

2009-02-01T00:35:00.001+05:30

Are Social Media Consultants Harming Social Media?
Everybody is a social media consultant these days.
An Open Letter--From Pakistan--To President Obama by Imran Khan
India is sponge that protects us all
Given the juicier and far more vulnerable US targets in southern Asia, LeT has simply found it more convenient to attack these in situ rather than over extend itself in reaching out to the continental United States.
India has unfortunately become the 'sponge' that protects us all. India's very proximity to Pakistan, which has developed into the epicenter of global terrorism during the last thirty years, has resulted in New Delhi absorbing most of the blows unleashed by those terrorist groups that treat it as a common enemy along with Israel, the United States, and the West more generally.
The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming Scam
Weather Channel founder John Coleman is at it again.
Why I'll Never Make It as a Standup Comedian.
:)
Forget the Film, Watch the Titles
A collection of film main title sequence designs.
Babies Know - A Little Dirt Is Good for You
Blogger Silenced by NDTV
Terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Media reports. Bloggers blog. Twitterers tweet. People don't like media's coverage. Bloggers opine and report on media's role. Media sues blogger for libel and defamation. Blogger forced to withdraw 'offensive' post.
Introducing Measurement Lab
With tools to help users attempt to diagnose common problems that might impair their broadband speed, as well as determine whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled by their ISPs.
Places We Live
Photos of slums(including Dharavi) narrated by the people who live there.
Dead athletes' brains show damage from concussions
Tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
DogSpot
For all your dog's needs. For dog owners in India.
Napping: the expert's guide
India Blog School
India Blog School is a non-profit initiative that aims to promote the culture of blogging in India through training both online and offline.
Founded by Amit Agarwal. Probably the first of its kind.
Liberia worms trigger emergency
Liberia's president has declared a state of emergency in response to a plague of crop-destroying army worms.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
The traveling pool of press photographers that follows presidents includes representatives from three wire services — AP (The Associated Press), AFP (Agence France-Presse) and Thomson Reuters. During the last week of the Bush administration, I asked the head photo editors of these news services — Vincent Amalvy (AFP), Santiago Lyon (AP) and Jim Bourg (Reuters) — to pick the photographs of the president that they believe captured the character of the man and of his administration.
The 2009 Bloggies
The nominations are up. No nominations for The Big Picture?! It isn't considered as a blog? Anyway...I would give it the blog/site of the year award.